The offensive line wasn’t the most stable position for Clemson a season ago, and there are still some lingering uncertainty about the group coming out of the spring.
But after watching the unit as a whole over the Tigers’ 15 spring practices, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said recently that he feels good about the development of the line. To the point that he has reached a different level of conviction about the short-term and long-term futures of the position with the personnel in place.
“We love the kids that we have,” Swinney said. “All 14 of the guys that we have on scholarship have the ability to be a starter for us or very significant contributors. I haven’t always been able to say that, but I’m very, very encouraged about the personnel that we have there.”
Clemson is set on the edges with veteran left tackle Jordan McFadden and rising junior Walker Parks on the right side, but the interior is where things are still in some limbo along a line that had eight different starting combinations a season ago. The Tigers have had more attrition than they expected at center, so Will Putnam moved over to rep there this spring and, as of now, would likely be the starter if Clemson had to play a game this week.
Clemson is also in the market for a transfer interior lineman if the fit is right, though Swinney has cooled on just how much of a necessity he initially thought that would be for his team given what transpired this spring. With Putnam specifically, grabbing a plug-and-play center would allow him to move back to right guard, where he’s started the last two seasons. But Swinney said he feels better about keeping Putnam at center if necessary after watching the rising senior make a largely smooth transition.
“It was rare that we had a bad snap,” Swinney said. “It was about one a day, and you’re talking about a guy that’s never snapped. It’s not like he snapped in high school. He’s never snapped.”
McFadden will exhaust his eligibility after next season. Putnam and Parks (draft-eligible next year) could also move on, potentially leaving more questions for the unit in 2023. But Swinney said he was equally as impressed with what he saw from the Tigers’ younger linemen this spring, particularly the third-year players – Mitchell Mayes, Trent Howard, Bryn Tucker and John Williams – that “all made a move,” he said.
That group competed at right guard in case Putnam remains at center while true sophomore Marcus Tate remains at the top of the depth chart at left guard for now, though he could move to tackle, where he’s been cross-training, in the future. Swinney is also high on true freshmen Blake Miller and Collin Sadler as well as redshirt freshmen Ryan Linthicum, Tristan Leigh and Dietrick Pennington, whom Swinney said might have started as a first-year player last season if not for an injury that sidelined the Memphis native.
Linthicum and Leigh, the top-ranked signee in Clemson’s 2021 recruiting class who could be McFadden’s successor next year, were among the players that showed the most improvement this spring, Swinney said. It’s all given Swinney a different level of confidence in the linemen already on the roster.
“If I felt like the kids we had, we missed on some of them, it would be different. But we haven’t missed on any of those guys,” Swinney said. “Every single guy that we’ve signed — all 14 guys that we have on scholarship — they’re all at different stages. But unless they get hurt, they’re going to be starters for us or really significant contributors. And that is a really good spot to be in in that offensive line.”
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